The US Department of Justice has defended its prosecution of former FBI director James Comey, claiming in new court documents there is “no serious dispute” that his social media post last year featuring a photo of seashells arranged to read “8647” could be interpreted as a threat against Donald Trump.
“There is no serious dispute that an objective viewer of Comey’s post could read it to mean ‘Kill President Trump’,” prosecutors wrote in a document filed on Tuesday in response to efforts by Comey’s efforts to have the case dismissed.
Comey was indicted in April after a grand jury in North Carolina charged him with making a threat against the US president and transmitting that threat, via social media, across state lines, over an image he posted on Instagram while vacationing in North Carolina last May.
In the photo, the seashells were arranged to read “8647”, which the president’s allies and supporters quickly denounced as a threat against Trump. The number “86” is often used as shorthand to mean to get rid of or remove something, while Trump is the 47th US president.
Comey deleted the photo after the uproar, saying he didn’t know that it could be interpreted as a violent threat. “It never occurred to me, but I oppose violence of any kind so I took the post down,” he said.
In the court documents filed earlier this week, prosecutors with the eastern district of North Carolina continued to argue the post was a “coded message to his followers meaning ‘kill’ or ‘get rid of’ President Trump”.
Comey has denied the charges against him and his lawyers have asked the judge to dismiss the case, arguing that the post was protected speech and did not amount to a “true threat” against the president.
Trump says he if he was a mayor, or a governor he would 'absolutely' want 'very beautiful' datacenters in his city or state
As Democrats increasingly try to channel grassroots opposition to AI datacenters on the midterm campaign trail, Donald Trump said on Wednesday that he is all for them.
Flanked by leaders of the largest US cryptocurrency companies, Trump was asked by a Maga influencer planted in the press pool, Link Lauren, what he would say to supporters who say “we love president Trump, but we’re still cautious about AI and crypto”.
“If I were the mayor of a town or the governor of a state, and I had a chance to get a big plant in, an AI plant or a datacenter, I would absolutely want it, because the jobs are enormous and the money paid, the taxes paid, are just enormous,” Trump replied. “So I would say, maybe it can use a little public relations help, but if I were a governor or a mayor, I would want that plant in my community and many of them are designed in a very beautiful way.”
Trump did not say what city or state he would like to lead, but his remarks are also a reminder that he is not barred, after his second term as president, from running for office as a mayor or governor.
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The day so far
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Donald Trump nominated Dr Heidi Overton – an abortion opponent who stood next to the president as he made false claims about vaccines – to be commissioner of the US Food and Drug Administration (FDA).
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Democrats quickly denounced the nomination and promised to oppose it. Patty Murray, who sits on the Senate health committee, called Overton “a far-right, anti-abortion extremist who has no business leading the FDA”.
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Trump told reporters, as he gave them a tour of his new helipad, that he will meet the North Korean communist leader, Kim Jong-un, later this year. Kim Yo-jong, the powerful sister of North Korea’s leader, said she knew “absolutely nothing” about talks with Trump, and that the US remains an enemy of Pyongyang.
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Trump said he has delayed implementing tariffs on some Canadian goods because he thought a deal had been reached with that country’s prime minister, Mark Carney.
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Trump met with top executives from cryptocurrency companies, an industry that helped him increase his net worth by at least $1.4bn last year, according to financial disclosure forms he filed in June.
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Kim Jong-un’s sister casts doubt on Trump’s claims of secret US-North Korea talks
On this subject, the reclusive North Korean leader’s younger sister has cast doubt on communications with Donald Trump and dampened hopes of a diplomatic breakthrough between them.
Yesterday, Trump suggested he and Kim Jong-un were holding secret negotiations after announcing the US would downgrade its participation in military exercises held by South Korea. Asked whether Kim had responded to his request for a conversation, Trump said: “Yeah, he has.”
As I said earlier, the Wall Street Journal reported yesterday that Trump was pushing aides to set up an in-person meeting with Kim, potentially during a trip to Asia in November for the Asia-Pacific Economic Cooperation summit in Shenzhen, China.
But today, Kim Yo-jong, the powerful sister of North Korea’s supreme leader, said she knew “absolutely nothing” about the supposed communications, and that while Trump and Kim had an excellent relationship, the US remained an enemy of Pyongyang.
“The United States’ hostile policy toward the DPRK has not changed, and the United States and its followers are vigorously carrying out hostile military activities against the DPRK even at this very moment,” she said in a statement carried by North Korean state media.
She lauded the relationship between her brother and Trump, saying he had “personally good memories and feelings” toward the US president.
But she cast doubt on whether her brother had secretly been in communication with Trump. “Perhaps it is the only matter I do not know about in relation to our supreme leadership’s foreign policy,” she said.
Trump suggests North Korea not a threat while he is president
Donald Trump then once again touted his “good” relationship with Kim Jong-un, before adding in an astonishing admission that he didn’t anticipate the North Korean leader doing anything during the remainder of his time in office.
He told reporters:
Now, I didn’t like the fact that we’re doing these massive military exercises really against North Korea … when I’m friendly with him … when I don’t see anything happening for, certainly, two and a half years – it’s not going to happen with me.
Then, Trump got to the crux of why he had ordered the US to scale back what he said were “inappropriate and hostile” joint military drills with South Korea, stating once again that he was “not happy” when Seoul declined to join US efforts against Iran in the strait of Hormuz. “I didn’t like that,” Trump said.
As my colleague Joseph Gedeon noted on Monday, this is not the first time Trump has treated the drills as a bargaining chip. After his 2018 summit with Kim in Singapore, he suspended major exercises outright, calling them costly and provocative, before they were quietly restored once nuclear diplomacy with Pyongyang broke down.
Earlier, Trump said he will meet Kim later this year, in what would be their first of his second term. He also disclosed that North Korea had 57 “very powerful” nuclear weapons, in a rare and unusually specific assessment by a US president of Kim’s arsenal.
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Trump says he thinks he has a deal with Canada on trade and 'may bring some of the tariffs down'
Donald Trump has said he delayed tariffs on some Canadian goods because he thought a deal had been reached with prime minister Mark Carney.
“We delayed it for three days because I think we have a deal with the prime minister and [a] good deal for everybody. So that’s good,” Trump told reporters.
Trump said last night he had paused what would have been a bruising 50% US tariff, after reaching an agreement with Canadian administration officials hours before a hike – which would have affected $20bn worth of goods – was set to take effect.
The duties would have affected a range of Canadian exports including wine and hockey sticks.
“Hopefully it’ll be a wonderful deal for everybody,” Trump added.
He was also asked if he was willing to lower tariffs on steel and aluminum from Canada to help US farmers. The Wall Street Journal (paywall) reported today that the US is considering lowering that tariff from 50% to 25%.
The president replied: “Well, we’re getting zero for our farmers, who have been hurt very badly by Canada, and they won’t be paying any tariffs any more.”
He added:
We may bring some of the tariffs down to a level where other countries are because Canada was paying a higher tariff.
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Trump says he and Xi will talk about AI during Chinese president's White House visit
Going back a few minutes, there’s been one tidbit from this announcement worth noting.
Trump, saying that the US is “way ahead” of top AI rival China, said he plans on discussing this tech with that country’s president, Xi Jinping.
“President Xi’s coming on September 24th. We look forward to it. We’ll probably be talking about AI and a lot of other things,” Trump said.
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Paul Atkins, Trump’s Securities and Exchange Commission chair, is now at the lectern, where he’s flattering his boss. “We’re making IPOs great again by cutting red tape,” Atkins said.
Trump says 'interest rates should be allowed to fall'
Trump took a few minutes at the tech and crypto confab to talk about “the old days” with interest rates. Trump has repeatedly pushed for lower interest rates.
“When we announced good numbers, interest rates would go down,” he said. But these days, that does not happen “because they’re so afraid of inflation”.
“Interest rates should be allowed to fall,” he said.
Trump also called the US “the hottest country” anywhere in the world, apparently referring to the economy.
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Trump said that the people in this room were ensuring that the future of commercial markets such as crypto remains “right here in the USA”.
He said “we’re fighting a lot of other countries” to control these markets and insisted “we’re leading in every aspect including in AI, and we’re leading by a lot”.
Remember: Trump last year took in at least $1.4bn from his crypto ventures, according to financial disclosure forms he filed in June.
Early in his comments, Trump took a dig at his predecessor, claiming without evidence that “under the crooked Joe Biden administration, the spirit of innovation that built America was under serious attack, like never before, and nowhere was that more true than crypto and other new financial technologies”.
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President Trump has started addressing the group of tech leaders.
Trump’s planned remarks to tech and crypto tycoons this afternoon come as the year is poised to end without Congress green-lighting cryptocurrency-friendly legislation, according to Barron’s.
Because Congress isn’t likely to act, the crypto industry is “more dependent than ever on President Donald Trump and his regulators;” they’re expected to make a direct appeal to him today, per Barron’s.
Notably, this White House get-together is taking place one day before the Commodity Futures Trading Commission has its first Innovation Advisory Committee meeting. This meeting is “expected to focus on crypto, prediction markets and artificial intelligence,” the website said.
Trump to meet crypto leaders at White House
Donald Trump is scheduled to give remarks at the White House on Wednesday about bolstering the US tech sector – and top execs from several cryptocurrency companies are expected to attend, according to reports.
According to the Hill, prediction market leaders were not invited.
The event is expected to start in a few minutes.
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Epstein client Leon Black threatened with contempt by House panel chair
The Republican chair of the House oversight committee has threatened to hold the private equity investor Leon Black in contempt if he does not fully cooperate with the panel’s ongoing investigation into Jeffrey Epstein, amid accusations that the billionaire is purposely delaying and disrupting the panel’s inquiry.
A letter released by Representative James Comer’s office on Tuesday, which was addressed to Black’s lawyer, revealed new details about the high-stakes clash between the powerful Kentucky congressman and Black, the co-founder of Apollo Asset Management who was Epstein’s friend and former client and paid Epstein tens of millions of dollars in fees.
“If Mr Black refuses to provide the Committee with responsive documents or refuses to appear for his scheduled deposition on September 3, 2026, the Committee will use all tools at its disposal, including contempt,” Comer said.
Susan Estrich, Black’s lawyer, rejected Comer’s assertions in a statement released on Tuesday night, saying the letter was misrepresenting the facts, and that Black was being targeted in a “political witch hunt”.
Black voluntarily agreed to be questioned by the House panel in June as part of the committee’s broad investigation into Epstein, which the panel has said includes an examination of the alleged mismanagement of the federal government’s investigation into the late sexual predator; the operation of sex-trafficking rings; and the ways in which Epstein and his companion Ghislaine Maxwell “sought to curry favor” to protect their “illegal activities”.
But Black’s appearance ended abruptly – after just one hour of questioning – after members of both parties said Black was refusing to answer questions about non-disclosure agreements (NDAs). Comer, in his capacity as committee chair, issued two subpoenas on that day in response to Black’s alleged lack of cooperation: one demanding that Black produce “all non-disclosure agreements to which he is a party” and another demanding he appear before the committee for a deposition.
The fight between the congressional oversight panel and Black is now centered on the scope of the oversight committee’s investigation.
Here’s the full report:
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Democrats declare victory in Pennsylvania seat held by GOP since 1999
Democrat Brandon Dukes appears to have flipped a Pennsylvania state house seat that has been Republican since 1999 last night, leading by just 97 votes against Republican Scott Timko in the special election as of this afternoon.
With over 99% of the votes counted, Dukes is leading by a razor-thin 8,469 votes to 8,372. At the time of writing, the Associated Press has yet to call the race.
The conservative 12th district, north of Pittsburgh, covers Cranberry, Mars, Zelienople, Evans City and Jackson Township in Butler county.
Butler county is significant as it’s where Donald Trump’s assassination attempt occurred in July 2024. Trump went on to win it by more than 18 points, as well as the state of Pennsylvania, a coveted presidential battleground state.
Dukes’ apparent flip expands Democrats’ narrow majority in the state house, but the party will hope that it boosts its momentum as it heads into November’s midterms. Indeed, he will face Timko for a rematch then, and Democrats are hoping to secure control of Pennsylvania.
Nonetheless, today’s results signify a major shift. Former US transportation secretary Pete Buttigieg, who endorsed Dukes in the race, said:
This is a big deal: Brandon Dukes just flipped a Pennsylvania state house seat held by Republicans for almost 30 years. His victory in Butler county reflects voters’ readiness for change, and the trust that he has earned in his district. I’m proud to be in his corner.
The state’s Democratic governor, Josh Shapiro, also congratulated Dukes:
Pennsylvanians are rising up and using their power to combat the chaos, cruelty and corruption – and we’re not slowing down.
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Health secretary RFK Jr, meanwhile, said:
A pantheon of superstar candidates made choosing our next FDA Commissioner one of the toughest decisions of my tenure at HHS. I’m confident President Trump and I chose the best person for the job: Dr. Heidi Overton.
Heidi brings exceptional judgment, professionalism, discipline, and an unwavering commitment to the American people. I have seen her challenge assumptions, demand excellence, and turn bold ideas into meaningful results.
At the @FDA, she will make our food supply safer, modernize drug approvals, unleash American medical innovation, accelerate access to lifesaving treatments, bring greater transparency and accountability to the agency, and restore Gold Standard Science as the foundation of every decision.
Congratulations, Heidi. I look forward to working with you to restore trust in the FDA and Make America Healthy Again.
'Not another Trump sycophant': Democrats lambast Trump's nomination of Overton for FDA chief
And we’re already getting some sense from senators of how that might go. Democrat Patty Murray, of Washington, who sits on the Senate health committee, shared this on X:
Heidi Overton is a far-right, anti-abortion extremist who has no business leading the FDA. The American people deserve someone who will put science and facts FIRST, not another Trump sycophant who will make it their mission to attack medication abortion. I will vote NO.
Democrat Richard Blumenthal, of Connecticut, said:
Trump is throwing down the gauntlet to both sides in the Senate – nominating an FDA head who demeans vaccines, denounces reproductive rights, & degrades science.
Republicans should have learned some lessons about needing to stand up now – not handwringing later about Trump officials who threaten public health.
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Dr Heidi Overton is a medical doctor and currently a deputy director of the White House domestic policy council, who has worked on several of Trump’s second-term health initiatives. She has become a trusted figure in his administration and a champion of his goals.
But as the Associated Press notes, the new FDA commissioner will face challenges balancing Trump’s priorities, traditional Republican interests, and health secretary Robert F Kennedy Jr’s anti-corporate stance.
The previous FDA head, Dr Marty Makary, resigned in May, leaving unfinished projects like work on ultra-processed foods, antidepressants and Covid-19 shots. Trump signed off on a plan to fire Makary after the president scolded him for not approving fruit-flavored vapes, the Wall Street Journal reported at the time.
To get confirmed, Overton will have to win approval from the narrowly Republican-led Senate and face questions from the Senate health committee. Its chair, the Republican senator Bill Cassidy, has been a vocal critic of some of Trump’s actions to sow doubt in vaccinations, including denouncing the president’s claims about the MMR vaccine as “crazy, stupid”.
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Trump nominates abortion opponent Heidi Overton to be head of FDA
Donald Trump has nominated Dr Heidi Overton – an abortion opponent who stood next to the president as he made false claims about vaccines – to be commissioner of the US Food and Drug Administration (FDA).
“Today I am honored to nominate the wonderful Dr. Heidi Overton, MD, PhD, as our next FDA Commissioner. Dr. Heidi has been a ROCKSTAR in my Administration, where she has worked directly with Secretary Kennedy, Dr. Oz, and team, to deliver on the MOST TRANSFORMATIVE Health Agenda in History. She is known to take on the HARDEST issues, and bring me solutions that work best for the Country,” the president wrote on Truth Social today.
He continued: “She is SMART and RESPECTED by all! Dr. Heidi will work with Secretary Kennedy and Dr. Oz to RAPIDLY deliver on my priorities of FASTER Cures, INCREASED American Innovation, MAJOR Clinical Trial Reforms, LOWER Drug Prices, and even more MAHA WINS!”
The FDA, which regulates the nation’s drugs, medical devices and much of its food supply, has spent the bulk of the second Trump administration in tumult following widespread job cuts and disease outbreaks.
Overton would also take the reins of an agency tasked with regulating medication abortions, specifically the drug mifepristone, which has become an important piece of abortion access for the 23 million women living in states with bans. In a 2023 policy brief, Overton has previously described mifepristone as “teleabortion” and “abortion-on-demand”, which Congress should work to strictly regulate “to protect women and children”.
More recently, Overton appeared with Trump during a press conference for an executive order to split up the measles, mumps and rubella (MMR) vaccine into three separate shots. She stood by the president as he falsely suggested the number or timing of vaccines could play a role in rising rates of autism spectrum disorder, even as scientific consensus and decades of studies have firmly concluded there is no link.
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Trump says he will meet Kim Jong-un later this year – and reveals how many nuclear weapons North Korea has
Donald Trump has said he will meet the North Korean dictator, Kim Jong-un, later this year, in what would be their first of Trump’s second term.
Trump also said that North Korea had 57 “very powerful” nuclear weapons, in a rare and unusually specific assessment by a US president of Kim’s arsenal.
“Yeah, I will be,” Trump told reporters during a tour of a new helipad he is building at the White House, when asked if he planned to meet Kim later in 2026.
Trump gave no details, but the Wall Street Journal (paywall) reported that he was eying a meeting when he travels to China for an Asia-Pacific Economic Cooperation (APEC) summit in November.
Trump defended planning to meet Kim at the same time as he wages a war with Iran that he has justified on the grounds of preventing Tehran developing a nuclear weapon.
Referring to the North Korean leader, Trump told reporters:
He has 57 very powerful nuclear weapons. Should have never allowed it to happen ... If I were president, I wouldn’t have allowed it.
But he’s got them. I get along with him very well. I can’t let Iran have a nuclear weapon. And I know Kim Jong-un very well, and he’s going to be fine.
Here’s the clip.
It comes two days after Trump ordered the US to scale back what he said were “inappropriate and hostile” joint military drills with longtime US ally South Korea, citing his “good relationship” with Kim in the decision.
Yesterday, South Korea’s military has confirmed that the US-led drills would end on Friday, six days earlier than originally planned.
Trump’s move came despite warnings from military officials from both countries warning that Kim’s regime is learning new battlefield tactics from assisting Russia in its war in Ukraine.
Trump and Kim met three times in his first spell in the White House, and at the time he said they “fell in love” after exchanging “beautiful letters”.
But they haven’t met in his second term. In recent days Trump has dropped growing hints about communications with Kim, although he wouldn’t confirm when asked by a reporter today whether the pair were exchanging letters. “I can’t tell you that,” he said.
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A US Census analysis of “noncitizen voting” in the 2020 election released on Wednesday by the US Census Bureau “fails the laugh test”, according to an examination by the Center for Election Innovation & Research, a non-profit that provides grants to state governments to increase the efficiency and voter turnout for elections.
“The administration does not provide a sufficient explanation of how it arrived at these numbers – and for good reason,” said David Becker, the CEIR’s executive director. “Census data cannot be reliably matched to public voter data, as it lacks any unique matching identifiers to compare to those public voter records. Any possible effort to ‘match’ such data would result in large numbers of false matches.”
Donald Trump referred to the census release on Wednesday in a Truth Social post, claiming that “the Census Bureau proves that over 24,000 Noncitizens voted illegally! The Census Bureau is going to analyze the next 32,000,000 Voters, and this number will explode. I WON THE ELECTION! We must pass THE SAVE AMERICA ACT.”
The census report provides numbers for each state’s apparent noncitizen voters in curiously round numbers – multiples of 10 or 100 – instead of exact figures.
“But even given this shoddy and opaque methodology, the number of alleged noncitizens keeps getting smaller,” Becker said. “Now that number is only 24,000 out of 128m records. Even assuming these numbers are credible, and they are not, that figure would represent less than 0.02% of all voters in 2020. That said, it is good to see the administration now admit that these numbers are so small that they could not have altered the outcome of the 2020 election. All of the numbers cited in the census analysis are smaller than the margins of victory in each state and would not have been enough to change the winner of any state in 2020.”
Trump’s national address one month ago restated claims of a rigged 2020 election and foreign election interference. Those claims were belied by the very evidence he relied on in the speech, which had been investigated by intelligence officials who concluded with high confidence in 2021 that China “did not deploy interference efforts and considered but did not deploy influence efforts intended to change the outcome of the US presidential election”.
Nonetheless, federal agencies have declassified evidence and issued information releases purporting to bolster this claim in the days following the address, capturing social media attention on the right with each incremental release.
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In a post to Truth Social, President Donald Trump threw the embattled US representative Cory Mills completely under a bus after Mills lost the Republican primary for his seat on Tuesday night.
“I told Congressman Cory Mills of Florida, a friend of mine, to get out of the Race, but he wouldn’t listen,” Trump wrote. “He thought he could win, so who can blame him? We now have a great candidate, Ryan Elijah, running in his place! Ryan stands for EVERYTHING MAGA, and is respected by ALL. He has my Complete and Total Endorsement! President DONALD J. TRUMP.”
Trump had endorsed Mills for re-election.
Mills, a former Army sniper and military contractor who represents a district containing St Augustine and Daytona Beach on the Florida coast, made headlines last year when a judge granted a protective order against him at the request of his former girlfriend, Lindsey Langston, who was reigning Miss United States at the time. Langston said Mills had threatened to release nude images of her and harm any future boyfriends. Mills denied the accusation and has not been charged with a crime.
Mills had also been under House ethics investigation for alleged financial misconduct in office, and for an accusation of “stolen valor” regarding the issuance of his Bronze Star decoration.
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Progressives and establishment Democrats celebrate Angie Nixon’s surprise primary win in Florida
Reactions to Angie Nixon’s surprise victory in the Democratic primary for the US Senate in Florida range from shock and delight among progressives notching another win for a democratic socialist candidate, to despairing fence-mending from moderates, to curt dismissal on the right.
“Is our bullhorn on?” said Matthew Grocholske, president of the Democratic Progressive caucus of Florida. “Florida voters showcased at the ballot box on Tuesday that they want to chomp the oligarchy through people-powered wins. Our organizing over the past year has driven 158,000 direct voter contacts since January 1 through the efforts of our caucus alone. The movement we’ve built is embedded in a compassionate future where we fight for all: a future where we pass Medicare for All and the Green New Deal, Block the Bombs and abolish ICE. The only correct analysis is that our progressive agenda is a winning message.”
Nixon did not have the DSA’s endorsement, nor that of progressive political stars like the US representative Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez or the US senator Bernie Sanders, who called Nixon’s victory a “huge upset” in a post on X.
Chuck Schumer, the Democratic leader in the Senate, issued a joint statement Tuesday morning with the Kirsten Gillibrand, the Democratic Senatorial Campaign Committee chair.
“Angie Nixon has dedicated her career to fighting for Florida,” they said. “A lifelong native of Jacksonville and a former union organizer, Angie’s dedication to put working families first runs deep – and now, she’s running to take that fight to the Senate. Ashley Moody’s votes have cost Florida, from her siding with private insurance companies over Floridians to ripping away healthcare. In November, Florida will have a clear choice at the ballot.”
The Democratic National Committee chair, Ken Martin, also released a statement.
“As an accomplished state representative and union organizer, Angie Nixon has dedicated herself to fighting for working families,” Martin said. “Floridians have chosen a proven leader with the experience and vision to lower costs, expand access to healthcare, make childcare and housing more affordable, fight for workers, protect public education, and deliver results for families across the Sunshine state. The DNC is ready to help elect Angie and work together to flip this seat, win the Senate majority, and deliver for all Floridians.”
Nixon is a state representative for Jacksonville and a former union organizer. She beat former Trump impeachment witness Alex Vindman despite being outspent more than 16 to 1. Vindman’s campaign was criticized by Democratic operatives for its focus on television spending with comparably less regard to field organizing, a strength for both Nixon and the Democratic Socialists of America, which she joined during the campaign.
David Jolly, who won the Democratic nomination for Florida governor on Tuesday night, found himself on MS Now telling voters that he rejects socialism, even as he congratulated Nixon on her victory and called her a “fighter” for education and healthcare.
Conservatives, meanwhile, have already declared the general election a walk for the Republican nominee.
“There are two things I would not want to be if I were running a statewide race in Florida: anti-Israel and communist-curious,” wrote Noah Rothmann in National Review. “The Democratic nominee for Senate, Angie Nixon, is both … There’s more than a whiff of capital ‘S’ socialism in all this. Given the scale of the Cuban and Venezuelan diaspora in Florida – demographics with living memory of the horrors that attend life inside the socialist world – the Sunshine State’s voters are likely to sniff it out. Even if the race for Senate in Florida is now a foregone conclusion, this race will still feature prominently in the national conversation. Why? Because it demonstrates that Republicans are right when they warn that the socialist phenomenon is coming to a town near you.”
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Darline Graham tells debate audience 'I'm not that informed on national security'
Conservatives are dogpiling on US senator Darline Graham’s debate performance on Tuesday evening against US congressman Ralph Norman of South Carolina, as the two Republicans face a primary runoff next week.
Asked if Taiwan and the South China Sea are national security issues for the United States, Graham responded, “I’m just going to be honest here. On national security, I’m not that informed on national security.” Audible groans from the studio audience at the venerable Newberry Opera House ensued.
“So … but I do support the military,” she continued. “My brother was in the Air Force for 33 years. So, I will do everything I can to support the military. My dad was in the Army. I’m not a polished politician up here. National security is not my thing, not my area of expertise.”
Lindsey Graham, Darline Graham’s brother and long-serving South Carolina senator, was notable for his involvement in foreign policy. South Carolina ranks sixth in military veteran population per capita, or about 8.4 percent of the state’s residents.
Darline Graham, a public administrator who has led the South Carolina Commission for the Blind since 2019, was appointed to complete the term of her late brother last month and has the endorsement of President Donald Trump, which she has leaned on during the campaign and in debates.
“I fully trust President Trump when it comes to the war in Iran,” Graham said on Tuesday night. “Iran is the weakest they have been in 47 years. The one thing that concerns me is we cannot let them get a nuclear weapon. So I trust President Trump and everything he’s doing. I think he’s got this, and I trust him on it.”
But the thinness of her political resume and her political inexperience have become a point of contention in the contest. At one point during the debate, she referred to South Carolina’s “50 million” residents – a state that has about 5.5 million residents.
Both candidates are running to the right. Each argued against birthright citizenship in opposition to the US supreme court’s ruling affirming the 14th Amendment’s plain language. Norman – who in 2021 advocated for Trump to declare martial law to prevent Joe Biden’s accession to the presidency – called for Anthony Fauci to be imprisoned Tuesday night.
“I have a proven record,” Norman said Tuesday night. “Look me up. Eight years I’ve been in Congress as the most conservative member. You know how I will vote. My resume is my record.”
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Results in the runoff election for a temporary successor to US congressman Eric Swalwell in California remain too close to call on Wednesday morning. State Sen. Aisha Wahab has a 51-49 lead of about 1,400 votes over Bay Area Rapid Transit Board President and former Dublin Mayor Melissa Hernandez, with about two-thirds of the vote counted according to the Associated Press.
Both Wahab and Hernandez are Democrats; California uses a “jungle” primary system for elections in which the top two vote-getters advance to a runoff. Wahab and Hernandez will again face each other again in the November general election for a full two-year term.
Outside spending amplified a race that pitted a relative progressive in Wahab against a centrist Democrat in Hernandez. The United Democracy Project, AIPAC’s political spending arm, contributed at least $1.2m in support of Hernandez, as well as $2.1m from Bold America Pac, which has received significant financial backing from the United Democracy Project, according to Politico.
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Businesses call for resolution after announcement of three-day pause on 50% tariffs on Canadian trade
An announcement of a three-day pause to the start of 50% tariffs on Canadian trade has left business and economic leaders thirsting for a resolution.
“Let’s be clear: the tariff delay provides relief on both sides of the border,” said Candace Laing, president and CEO of the Canadian Chamber of Commerce. “Businesses may not be closing up shop with this news, but an extension doesn’t bring the certainty that a signed interim deal would. We know that stability is in short supply and businesses will take any ounce they can get. This limbo state is not anyone’s preferred outcome – time is of the essence.
“We commend the negotiating team for their work and sense of urgency this week, and call on them to keep it up: ultimately, a resilient and integrated North American economy would be a stronger one for all.”
“The additional time is welcome, but the continued threat of tariffs leaves manufacturers and their workers facing the same damaging uncertainty,” said Dennis Darby, president and CEO of trade group Canadian Manufacturers and Exporters, in a statement.
“Businesses cannot confidently make long-term decisions about production, hiring, technology adoption and capital investment without knowing the conditions under which they will trade with their largest market. Delay may buy time, but it does not remove the damage caused by uncertainty.”
President Donald Trump posted late on Tuesday on social media that he had paused the tariffs for three days “based on the fact that Canada and the USA, subject to the finalization of documents, have a DEAL!”
Trump has made a point of antagonizing Canada throughout his second term. Retailers in Canada have responded in kind, ridding their shelves of American goods, particularly alcohol. In March 2025, every province of Canada banned the import and distribution of American alcohol. Only Alberta and Saskatchewan have subsequently lifted their bans.
Though the US supreme court struck down much of Trump’s tariff regime earlier this year, the White House announced a 50% tariff on Canadian exports including wine and hockey sticks in July, saying that it sought to hold Canada accountable for discrimination against US-produced cars, alcohol and dairy products.
Most Canadians oppose offering concessions to the United States as part of a trade deal. Almost 70 percent of Canadians want a ban on American alcohol to continue.
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Trump-backed Byron Donalds to face Democrat David Jolly in race to succeed Florida governor DeSantis
Byron Donalds, a congressman backed by Donald Trump, won the Republican nomination for governor on Tuesday in the race to succeed Ron DeSantis.
Donalds, who has represented south-west Florida since 2021, trounced three reasonably prominent Republican rivals, including Jay Collins, DeSantis’s handpicked lieutenant governor.
If he wins the November election, as he is expected to do in the conservative stronghold, Donalds would become the first Black governor in any southern US state.
So confident was Donalds of victory that his television advertisements in the weeks leading to the primary ignored his Republican challengers and focused on former Republican congressman David Jolly, who secured the Democratic party’s nomination on Tuesday.
Republican senator Dan Sullivan and Democrat Mary Peltola advance in Alaska Senate primary
With 80% of the vote counted, incumbent Republican senator Dan Sullivan and former Democratic congresswoman Mary Peltola will be moving forward from Alaska’s open primaries to the general election.
Peltola is currently leading with 48% of the vote with Sullivan following at 42.8%. The other Dan Sullivan – a retired schoolteacher and US Forest Service employee who infuriated his namesake senator by running as a long-shot Republican candidate – is in a distant third place with 2.4% of the vote, followed by Democrat David Leslie and Republican Gerald Heikes, each with about 1.1%.
This election is yet another contest that could tilt the scale in the Democrats’ favor and help them retake control of Congress.
The Guardian’s Chris Stein has more:
Revealed: FCC chair Brendan Carr’s close ties to White House and rightwing media
Brendan Carr was very firm.
“As a general rule, we don’t get into any discussions that happen with the White House or don’t happen with the White House,” Carr, the chair of the Federal Communications Commission (FCC), told Politico’s Dasha Burns in a recent interview. Burns had pressed Carr to explain how exactly he came to issue a highly unprecedented order forcing ABC to apply early to renew its eight local broadcast licenses just one day after the man who appointed Carr, Donald Trump, and his wife Melania called for ABC to be punished for a joke made by late-night host Jimmy Kimmel.
“Did you get a call or talk to the president either before or after you made that announcement?” Burns had asked. Later in the interview, Carr repeated his policy: “As a general matter, I don’t speak publicly about conversations with the White House, or whether they happen or don’t happen.”
While Carr may not be keen to detail his relations with the Trump administration, a trove of FCC documents – obtained via a Freedom of Information Act request and lawsuit filed by the advocacy group Democracy Forward, and provided to the Guardian – shed light on the close working relationship between Carr, his top staffers and members of Trump’s White House team.
Between 12 March 2025 and 11 February 2026, Carr attended at least eight meetings at the White House, according to the records, and had at least three scheduled calls with administration officials, including two conversations with chief of staff Susie Wiles. He also spoke by phone with administration officials such as controversial health secretary Robert F Kennedy Jr.
In addition, the files provide insight into Carr’s media strategy, including communications with producers at Fox News, and make public previously undisclosed meetings he has held with media titans such as Fox Corp chief executive Lachlan Murdoch and Sinclair Broadcast Group chair David Smith.
Those unfamiliar with Alaska politics are likely raising an eyebrow at some repeated names.
No, we’re not talking about Dan S Sullivan and Dan J Sullivan, two Republicans with the same name running for US Senate – an issue that went to the state supreme court earlier this summer. We’re talking about the Begiches. Nick Begich III, a Republican, is currently leading the race to represent Alaska in the US House of Representatives for a second term while Tom Begich, a Democrat, is advancing to the general election for governor in November.
Further confusing matters, Nick Begich III won his seat from Mary Peltola, a Democrat who is leading the primary for US Senate alongside incumbent Republican senator Dan S Sullivan, who had defeated first-term Democratic senator Mark Begich for his seat in 2014.
The Begiches come from a long line of politicians that started with Nick Begich Sr, a Democrat elected to represent Alaska in the House of Representatives in 1970. His sons are Tom Begich and Mark Begich. Their nephew – and Nick Begich Sr’s grandson – is Nick Begich III.
Two Democrats are currently leading the all-party primary for Alaska governor.
Jonathan Kreiss-Tomkins and Tom Begich will advance to the general election for the seat in November, with Kreiss-Tomkins, a state representative, receiving 21.7% of the vote so far and Begich, a former state senator, receiving 20.1%.
The two Democrats are trailed by three Republicans. Business owner Bernadette Wilson has 10.5% of the vote so far, followed by former Anchorage mayor Dave Bronson with 8.4% of the vote and former state attorney general Treg Taylor with 7.5%.
In other primary news, Republican congressman Nick Begich III is leading the race to represent Alaska in the US House of Representatives for a second term.
Like the US Senate primary in Alaska, this election is a non-partisan primary that will see four candidates advance to the general election for the seat in November.
Begich, who narrowly defeated Democrat Mary Peltola, the current frontrunner in the senate primary in Alaska, for his current seat in the House of Representatives, has so far received 46.2% of the votes cast in Tuesday’s race. He is followed by independent Bill Hill with 31.1% of the vote.
Matt Schultz, a Democrat, is coming in third with 8.1% of the vote, with Democrat Eric Hafner coming in fourth with 3.8%. John Williams, another Democrat, currently has 2.5% of the vote.
According to the Associated Press, 77% of the vote has been counted.
Updated
Who is Natalie Harp? Trump’s closest and most devoted aide is in the spotlight
Wearing shoulder-length blonde hair, gold earrings and a red dress, cancer survivor Natalie Harp introduced herself to the 2020 Republican national convention as “a formerly forgotten American from California” and compared Donald Trump with George Bailey, the everyman hero played by James Stewart in the classic film It’s a Wonderful Life.
“George Bailey’s father was right,” smiled Harp, her voice echoing in the Andrew W Mellon auditorium in pandemic-hit Washington. “All you can take with you is that which you’ve given away. Mr President, that makes you the richest man in the world.”
Six years later, Harp is now one of Trump’s closest and most devoted aides. Her official job title is special assistant to the president and executive assistant to the president on an annual salary of $150,000.
Her unofficial job title is the “human printer” for supplying him with print-outs of information. And for years she has only been a minor character in the Trump Cinematic Universe.
But all that changed this week when Jon Ossoff, a Democratic senator and possible 2028 presidential contender, accused Trump in a campaign speech of wanting to “build his ballroom and travel with Natalie” instead of doing his job.
In case you missed it: NBC News reported yesterday that the US Department of Justice has issued subpoenas into whether Dan J Sullivan entered the Alaska primary for US Senate to confuse voters seeking to vote for incumbent Republican senator Dan S Sullivan.
Citing an unnamed law enforcement official, NBC News reports that the subpoenas are part of a federal investigation.
The justice department under Donald Trump has opened a number of investigations into his political adversaries. Democrats are hoping to flip the seat with Mary Peltola, a former congresswoman, in their bid to retake control of Congress.
Congratulations have been pouring in this morning for Angie Nixon, the progressive who won the primary for US Senate in Florida in a major upset to the Democratic establishment.
“Congratulations @AngieNixon,” congresswoman Ilhan Omar posted on X. “We are so proud of you and can’t wait for you to be the next Senator of Florida. Democrats need to unite and send a message.”
“Democratic socialist state representative Angie Nixon, outspent more than 16 to 1, pulled off a HUGE upset to win the Democratic nomination for the US Senate in Florida,” senator Bernie Sanders posted on X. “Congratulations Angie!”
“In the Florida legislature, Angie Nixon has led the fight to lower costs for families and take on the rigged system. Now, she’s ready to take that fight to the US Senate,” Ken Martin, chair of the Democratic National Committee, posted on X. “Congratulations, Angie! Onward to November.”
With 73% of the votes counted in Alaska, it appears that the November election for US Senate will include a showdown between Mary Peltola, former Democratic congresswoman, and incumbent Dan S Sullivan, a Republican.
“Tonight shows Alaskans are fired up and ready for an independent voice in the Senate who will fix the rigged system, lower costs, and put Alaska first,” Peltola posted on X. “We’re ready to win this thing on November 3rd.”
Peltola currently leads with 47.8% of the vote, with Senator Sullivan coming in with 44%. Next is the other Dan Sullivan, also a Republican, with 2.5% of the vote and then Democrat David Leslie with 1.1%. The non-partisan primary will see four candidates advance to the general election for the seat in November.
The Guardian’s Sam Levin and Richard Luscombe have more on Angie Nixon and her surprise primary win in Florida for US Senate.
Nixon, a state representative and member of the Democratic Socialists of America, beat former army intelligence officer Alexander Vindman, despite having significantly less funding going into the primary – $975,000 to Vindman’s $16.3m at the end of July, according to Florida Politics.
Democrats have their sights set on upsetting Republican Ashley Moody in the US Senate general election. Moody, picked by DeSantis to replace Marco Rubio when he became secretary of state last year, won what was almost a token primary election to run in November to serve the remaining two years of Rubio’s term.
Nixon, who was born in Jacksonville, has aggressively opposed DeSantis’s policies, including with a sit-in at the governor’s office this spring to protest Republican redistricting, the Miami Herald reported. That demonstration resulted in her facing misdemeanor charges of trespassing and resisting, which she is fighting in court.
The Guardian’s Chris Stein has more on the Alaska primary:
Dan J Sullivan is a retired schoolteacher and US Forest Service employee living in the town of Petersburg in south-eastern Alaska, who is running as a Republican for the US Senate. Dan S Sullivan is a Republican US senator, who has represented Alaska since 2015.
Both candidates will appear on the ballot, one name after the other, when Alaskans vote in primary elections this week – a complicated quirk of the contest that has drawn howls from Republicans.
But the incumbent senator’s real threat, Alaska politics watchers say, is Mary Peltola, a Democrat who managed to twice win election to the state’s seat in the US House of Representatives, and is now vying to beat him in November’s midterm elections in the US Senate.
Democrat Mary Peltola and incumbent Dan Sullivan lead in Alaska primary for US Senate
Hello and welcome to our live coverage of US politics.
We are still awaiting the full election results from Alaska, where it appears Mary Peltola is leading for the Democrats and Dan S Sullivan is leading for the Republicans in the contest for US Senate.
Incumbent Sullivan is running for a third term while Peltola is fighting to flip the seat and aid Democrats in their quest to retake control of Congress. The Tuesday vote in the nonpartisan primary will see four candidates advance to the general election for the seat in November.
Peltola became the first Alaska Native and the first woman to represent Alaska in the House of Representatives when she won her bid for the state’s sole seat in 2022. Sullivan, on the other hand, faces the unique challenge of running against … Dan Sullivan. Dan J Sullivan is a retired schoolteacher and US Forest Service employee. Though Republicans argued that the 70-year-old challenger Dan Sullivan had only filed his candidacy as an interference tactic against Senator Sullivan, the state supreme court ruled in June that he was qualified to run for the seat and ordered election officials to place him on the primary ballot.
With 66% of votes counted, Peltola is leading with 46.8% of the vote with the incumbent Sullivan trailing closely behind with 44.4% of the vote. Dan J Sullivan is in third, with 2.4% of the vote.
In other election news:
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Progressive Aisha Wahab is currently leading with 51% of the vote in the special runoff election to fill former representative Eric Swalwell’s seat in California. This comes after Super Pacs tied to the American Israel Public Affairs Committee (Aipac) spent millions supporting Wahab’s closest competitor, Democrat Melissa Hernandez. According to the Associated Press, 62% of votes have been counted.
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In Wyoming, the Trump-backed Harriet Hageman is leading the Republican primary for US Senate. Hageman, a conservative lawyer with a passion for thwarting environmentalists, had previously beat Liz Cheney for the thinly populated western state’s solitary seat in the US House of Representatives.
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Byron Donalds won the Republican nomination and David Jolly the Democratic nomination for Florida governor. Donalds was endorsed by Donald Trump and will become Florida’s first Black governor if elected in November. Jolly is a former Republican who joined the Democratic party last year.
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Progressive Angie Nixon won the Democratic nomination for Florida’s open Senate seat, defeating the heavily favored Alex Vindman, a retired army lieutenant colonel and an impeachment witness against Trump during the president’s first term of office. If elected in November, Nixon would be the state’s first Black senator. Nixon will compete against Republican Ashley Moody in November for the Senate seat Marco Rubio won in 2022.
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